FINAL BILL REPORT

                  ESSB 6264

                          C 115 L 00

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Establishing intermediate drivers= licenses.

Sponsors:  Senate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Eide, Costa, Swecker, Gardner, Kohl‑Welles, Shin, Patterson, Brown, Haugen, Jacobsen, McAuliffe, Sheahan, Rasmussen, Fairley, Goings and Franklin).

Senate Committee on Transportation

House Committee on Transportation

Background:  A Washington resident under the age of 18 is eligible for an unrestricted driver=s license if the parent or guardian signs the application and the applicant has completed an approved driver=s education course.

Graduated driver=s licensing is a system of three phases of licensing that a driver under the age of 18 must progress through in order to qualify for a driver=s license.

Currently, 34 states have adopted legislation that restricts teen driving and 22 states have adopted a full graduated driver=s licensing system.

Summary:  The Legislature recognizes the need to develop a graduated driver=s licensing system.

An intermediate driver=s license is established.

Intermediate License Requirements:  An applicant for an intermediate driver=s license must have possessed a learner=s permit for six months, passed a road test, passed a driver=s education course, and certified to the Department of Licensing (DOL) that the applicant has at least 50 hours of supervised driving experience and that ten of those hours were at night.

Intermediate License Restrictions:  For the first six months after issuance of an intermediate license, the holder of the license may not have any passengers in the car under the age of 20, who are not members of the holder=s immediate family.  After the first six months, the holder may not have more than three passengers in the car under the age of 20, who are not members of the holder=s immediate family.

The holder of an intermediate driver=s license may not operate a vehicle between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. except when the holder is accompanied by a parent or guardian or the holder is moving a vehicle for agricultural purposes.  An intermediate licensee may drive without restrictions if the licensee does not have any accidents or traffic infractions for 12 months after issuance of the license.

Intermediate License Penalties:  The first time a person issued an intermediate driver=s license is convicted of or found to have committed a traffic offense, DOL must mail a letter to the person=s parent or guardian indicating the potential future penalties.  On a second conviction or finding, DOL must suspend the intermediate license for six months, and on a third conviction or finding, DOL must suspend the intermediate license until the person turns 18.  Enforcement of intermediate violations may only be accomplished as a secondary action.

DOL must issue an instruction permit and an intermediate license in distinctive forms.

A driver=s license issued to a person under the age of 18 is an intermediate license subject to the restrictions accompanying intermediate licenses.

The intermediate license program sunsets June 30, 2009.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate 43 5

House6631(House amended)

Senate 39 9(Senate concurred)

Effective:June 8, 2000

          July 1, 2001 (Sections 1-10)